


Tropical Fantasy! ~Limited SSR event~

by Ratmitri



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Genuinely no idea what to tag this as, M/M, No Beta, please dont take this too seriously, ya ever just... pine for a gatcha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24079834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ratmitri/pseuds/Ratmitri
Summary: In which Itaru obsesses over getting a Gawain SSR totally because he’s a KniRoun stan and not because Gawain looks like Chikage....Right?
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage
Comments: 7
Kudos: 105





	Tropical Fantasy! ~Limited SSR event~

**Author's Note:**

> I read kniroun a while back, so apologies for any... lore inaccuracies.

“ No! You can’t leave me! Think about our kids! “ 

“ Our kids? Don’t lie to me! I know those bastards aren’t mine! “ 

The spring troupe’s doing their usual improv practice again, and from what little Itaru manages to pay attention to, it seems to be going great. 

“ For the last time, it’s  _ bonding_, not boning- “ 

Yeah,  _ really _ great. 

He could probably stand to pay a little more attention, but it’s not his turn and he’s got some SP to burn while he waits for the new event announcement, and well, it’s pretty hard to pay attention to Citron’s language mishaps when there’s an event to grind.

_ KniRoun’s _ mobile game is about to drop the summer event. He repeats, THE summer event. Summer event are sorta, great all around, because a) easy cash grab for the company and b) horny gamer fanservice.

Last year’s summer Gwen managed to break the server because the event had twice the amount of its usual participants, and before her, the whole way the game’s events were conducted had to be adjusted because of Summer Lancelot. ( Itaru will not admit how much money he actually spent trying to get and max those two, but let’s just say his bank had to call him to confirm the amount spent ) 

In all honesty, he’s sorta curious what they’ll do this year anyways. They’ve got the best girl and best boy out of the way already, so what else can they even do for the game to make bank again?

His answer comes in the form of a notification: Tropical Fantasy! ~Limited SSR event~, and Itaru clicks without even checking the thumbnail.

What greets him is  _ not _ what he expected.  _ At all _ . The SSR of the event is Gawain.  _ Serious, stoic _ Gawain with his fucking shirt off and glistening abs that make him look like he’s from a cheap porn game ( not that Itaru has any experience with those, mind you, especially those featuring people who look suspiciously like a certain troupe member of his ). 

The likes on the video are fucking insane, and he briefly wonders how the hell did it get so much in such a short notice. The video’s comments aren’t available, so he goes to Twitter only to see Gawain  trending .

“ FUCK FUK FUCK SUMEMR GAWAIN HYPE Y’ALL “

“ me: they’re just gonna put another big titty waifu for the event like every other fucking gatcha game

KniRoun: *releases summer Gawain*

me: *surprised pikachu face* “

“ Damn can’t believe KniRoun was like “ we’re gonna give the gays everything that they want “ lol. “

“ okey but like matching bf SSRs we stan “

“ CANT BELIEVE GAWAIN WENT FROM “ your daughter will be home by 9 “ to “ your daughter calls me daddy too. “ IN ONE EVENT HOLY CRAP- “

Shit, this was a lot more hype than Itaru had expected. He had saved up a shit tone for the summer event, obviously, but this was some new levels of crazy hype that even his whale ass wasn’t ready to compete with. 

He’ll have to device a strategy, and do it  _ fast_. The event was gonna start in 4 days and last for a week.

_ Good luck_ _._ He thought to himself. Yeah, he’ll definitely need that. 

__________

Itaru does not have a problem, he tells himself ( it doesn’t really work ).

There’s a fucking  _ excel sheet  _ open on his computer, and for once it’s not for his job. No, big brain Chigasaki decided to  _ actually _ do some math for the event, which may or may have taken him the entire night and made him lose sleep. On the other hand, his math is in top notch shape now, so if he ever Isekais himself into some weird universe where everything is run by math, he  _ probably _ won’t die. 

Since the announcement trailer dropped, there’s been a lot of buzz happening in the general KniRoun forums, and a lot of ... _rather_ _ interesting _ discussion baords.

He very carefully avoids the ones pointing out how Gawain looks more like his stage actor than his actual in-game sprite, as well as the discussion boards of people wondering if his stage actor has also maybe shared a shirtless pic. ( He seriously doubts Chikage would  ever post a shirtless pic, but he bookmarks the board just in case. You know, for blackmail purposes and all that ).

Despite Itaru’s best attempts to not think about it, people definitely have a point. It seems like their stage adaptation may have been received a little too well, because he’s been noticing a few alterations in the newer versions of character’s cards, like how Lancelot’s eyes are suddenly pink now or how Gawain’s hair is closer to Chikage’s cabbage green instead of his usual muted shade. 

Itaru’s brain, however, refuses to link this new card of Gawain to his senpai, because yeah, he can definitely see the similarities, but he really doesn’t want to look too close because there’s something about the thought of a shirtless, wet Chikage offering his hand that reeks of cliche shoujo manga tropes ( sorry Muku ), and well, Chikage is certainly too unromantic for that . 

( He also  _ definitely _ does not nearly scream when he runs into Chikage after the latter had just finished taking a bath, and even if he did, there’s always an event to blame on his weird behavior. ) 

__________

If Itaru thought he had a problem before, he  _ definitely _ has one now. For starters, he’s been completely avoiding Chikage, which usually wasn’t that big of a deal, as their schedules never really aligned at work and Chikage was always off... doing whatever he was always off to do, but Tsuzuru and the director just  _ had to _ come up with a new practice exercise, and they just  _ had to _ pair him with Chikage.

“ You two have great chemistry, this is a nice chance to improve on it. “ is what the director said as the justification for the pair up, and it’s not like he  _disagrees_ , per se, they definitely worked well during KniRoun, but it’s very hard to work well with a person when all you do is skip all of your assigned practices together by giving flimsy excuses. 

Chikage _surely_ knows that something is up by now, because after a while he stopped greeting him at work and went out of his way to exit the room whenever Itaru came in. 

Which... yeah, he feels mega guilty over, but it’s not like he can  do something about it. What is he even meant to say? 

_ “ Hey senpai, I know I’ve been avoiding you and we need to come up with 3 improv scenarios by Friday, but every time I see you, you’re shirtless and hot and telling me to slay the enemies, which is like, mega sexy apparently, so yeah can I not see you anymore? “  _

Yeah, he’s not gonna  do _that_ , instead he will choose to do what he always does, which is ignoring talking about his problems until they go away. You know, like any mature adult would. 

( He tries really,  _ really _ hard not to feel guilty when Chikage stops sleeping in their room altogether. ) 

__________

When the deadline for the improv exercises comes up, Itaru skips practice all together. He hasn’t done that since he first joined the troupe, but the guilt was starting to fully settle in, and he really didn’t want to explain the situation to their director or Chikage. Well,  _especially_ Chikage. 

So he chooses to hide in Banri’s room instead. Juza’s out with Muku and Kumon somewhere, and no one will search for him here. Probably.

“ Dude, you’re zoned the fuck out, what’s up? I’ve had to revive your sorry ass like 5 times already. “

Itaru snaps back to reality and looks and the screen and  _shit_ , yeah, they’re still in the second dungeon and it’s been an hour. Banri’s probably really fed up with his ass. 

“ Nothing’s up, work things. You know, boring adult stuff. “ Banri doesn’t look entirely convinced, so he tries to change the subject quickly. “ Anyways, go back to the game, I’m fine. “ 

Surprisingly, he manages to actually focus on the dungeon, probably because they end up coming across a new rare enemy, and he somewhat forgets about his weird Chikage dilemma.

Well, it worked only for a bit. He somehow forgot about the hidden KniRoun reference in the fifth dungeon, and he just had to be the one to get “ Gawain’s Lance: use this to call upon the spirit of the powerful warrior Gawain “. 

He groans, and tries to immerse himself back into the gameplay, but all he can think of is that stupid lance, which in turn makes him think of all the actions sequences him and Chikage had to do for KniRoun, which in turn-

“ -taru! Fuck dude, are you so old you can’t hear me anymore?! Look at the fucking screen! “

“ Huh? “

He does, and is greeted with the usual “ Game Over “ card. They didn’t even reach the  _seventh_ dungeon, and were playing on  _normal_ to get new cutscenes, just how zoned out was he for this to happen? 

“ Yeah, okey, you’re not listening, great. Something is definitely up. I’m not restarting until you get your shit together.“ 

Itaru didn’t say anything, because there’s no way Banri expected him to talk about  _ his feelings._ Especially with a guy like, 6 years younger then him. Yeah no, not happening. 

“ Dude, I’m serious. It’s not just me. Pretty sure even Masumi looks at you all concerned. Sakuya’s been devising a plan to talk to you since like, yesterday. “

Fuck, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Itaru barely managed to open up to others, he didn’t want his troupe mates worrying for him, especially over something as nonsensical as this. Maybe this was a bigger issue than originally expected. 

“ Shit. Did the director say anything? “

“ Don’t think so. She did seem pretty worried though. “ 

Banri moved from his bed to the floor, making himself comfortable next to him. He really was gonna have to listen to a kid’s advice, wasn’t he.

“ So uh, what’s up. I mean, if it’s something serious you should probably talk to the director, pretty sure she’ll let you have a day off- “

“ ...Every time I see Chikage I scream because I imagine him in a sexy beach outfit. “

“ You- WHAT?! “

Maybe he should have clarified, or something, because Banri currently looks like he’s torn between laughing, crying and being perplexed. 

“ New KniRoun summer event has summer Gawain. Chikage played him. My brain is weird, that’s it. “

“ H-hold on. “ Yeah, Banri was definitely laughing now. “ You’ve been avoiding practice and your troupe mates... because you’re horny for a gatcha card of a role one of them played? “

“ Yeah, essentially. “

“ Simp. “

Was he a simp? Was that the new low has has sunk to? Banri certainly seemed to think so, as he has not managed to calm the fuck down yet. 

“ Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. Literally can’t face the guy. “ 

Banri stops laughing to look at him,  _judgmentally_ , might he add. “ Dude, just say you wanna fuck him and get it over with, you don’t have to fucking ruin your acting career because of an event card. ...Although, if I had to guess a way for your acting career to get ruined, I would probably guess this. “ 

Itaru stops to think it over. Yeah, maybe he’s being too dumb about it. The event is starting tomorrow anyways. He’ll just talk to Chikage in the morning and explain away his behavior with event prep stress, and he’ll say the same thing to the director, who will no doubt look at him with disappointment in her eyes, but hey, that’s a small price to pay in comparison to fucking up his troupe’s dynamic. 

“ You’re probably right. Not about wanting to fuck him, obviously, but about me needing to get over his. “ Itaru grabs his phone from Banri’s floor and walks towards the door. “ I’m going to sleep now to wake up early for the event, I’ve burned all my stamina up anyways. “

“ Yeah, yeah, keep being a pussy. “ Banri, unsurprisingly, looks unimpressed. “ You’re still a simp though and a dumbass to boot, but as long as it doesn’t fuck up the troupe you’re fine, I guess. “

Itaru doesn’t dignify that with a response and simply shuts the door. Loudly. 

_________

When Itaru wakes up, he’s on the floor, and it’s suspiciously way too bright in the room to be 5 AM.

He checks his phone, and it’s 2 in the afternoon.  _Shit_ , he overslept. On the day the event  _starts_. There’s no way he is beating those dedicated Gawain stans now. 

Itaru opens his phone, and notices  _20 new notifications_ _._ It’s Saturday, so there’s no way this is all work related. So what the fuck has happened? 

From: NOOB, GET REKT

DUDE, DID YOU HACK THE GAME!? YOU’RE FUCKING TRENDING. I KNEW YOU WERE A SIMP BUT I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS THIS FUCKING BAD. 

From: Sakuya 🌸

Itaru? Did something happen with your streaming channel? My classmate just messaged me to ask if you can hack a game for her. 

From:  ★★★

Yo Yo Itaroon  ★ !You’re trending, that’s mad sick! Nice going  ♬ ! 

From: all you do is disappoint me

Chigasaki. What did you do. Answer immediately. 

Fuck, the last one was from Mr. Scary Yakuza himself, what  _did_ he do? He hasn’t streamed in 5 days now, and he’s never hacked a game. Sure, he might be a whale, but he isn’t gonna go through the game’s whole code for a few gems. He’s better than that. 

He checks Twitter, and is very very confused to find a news article titled: 

‘ Taruchi, KniRoun’s biggest fan and perhaps biggest scam, the man who broke the game. ‘

_ “ As you all know, KniRoun’s mobile game has been gaining some traction. Despite it being made only a few years ago, the game is already one of the most profitable gatchas ever made. _

_ With that said, not everyone seems to be willing to spend money on the game. The game’s most recent controversy involves the popular streamer and a long time fan of the game: taruchi, who is currently being accused of hacking the game’s global server.  _

_ This, might we add, is the game’s first ever hacking accusation, as the game’s system is notorious for being impossible to crack.  _

_ This, however, didn’t stop the streamer, who has somehow managed to get a 100 million points on the new Summer event within the first hour of the event’s release.  _

_ Neither Taruchi nor the creator’s of the game have put out an official statement yet. We are currently waiting for further updates. “ _

Huh? HUH? Hack the game?! 100 million points? He’s pretty sure the highest anyone ever got was 76 million, and that was one an event that lasted for 2 weeks. 

Itaru opens the app immediately, and is surprised to see that his account hadn’t been deleted. Maybe he was just mixed up with someone else. Yeah, that seemed likely.

Itaru’s hopes immediately die down as he looks at his present box, only to be greeted with 3 Summer Gawain SSRs. He repeats, 3 Summer Gawain SSRs. He doesn’t know why he decides to bloom him right there and then, as it would probably further incriminate him, but Gawain’s bloomed art hadn’t been shown yet, and if he does get his account deleted, might as well die with the knowledge of the bloomed card in mind. 

He was  _definitely not prepared.  At all_. Was that allowed? WAS it? Because yeah okey, the game had fanservice before, but this was reaching new levels of it, what with Gawain on his knees, in a comprising position, his swimwear’s waistline lower than it should be-

“ Good morning, Chigasaki. I see you’re enjoying your games as per usual. “

Itaru looks up to see Chikage smirking at him, and his wish to die increases. Out of all people to see him like this, it just had to be him, didn’t it? 

Wait. Itaru’s been avoiding Chikage for a few days now,  _and_ he slept through the beginning of a new gatcha event, and Chikage definitely knows that KniRoun events drop on Saturdays at this point. So why wasn’t he surprised? Unless...

“ Senpai. Did you break the game for me? “

Chikage doesn’t answer him, and shit, he did, didn’t he? Itaru probably forgot to close the fucking excel sheets and Chikage saw, or Banri told him, or he just guessed the situation with the stupid perceptive brain of his. Maybe this was Chikage’s idea of a punishment, just torturing him with a horny Gawain card and a potential account suspension. 

“ Break the game? What a baseless accusation. “ Chikage doesn’t even flinch when he says that, and instead goes to grab something from his drawer. “ I have better things to do, such as working on my acting, something you should have been doing, but avoiding in favor of games, as per usual. “

Yeah, Chikage’s definitely gotten better at acting. A few months ago Itaru might have even believed this. 

“ Nice try, senpai. I know it was you. Feel free to try and lie yourself out of this situation. “

Chikage doesn’t reply again, and instead starts walking towards him, and Itaru doesn’t know whether to brace himself for a scene from a shitty romance manga or a thriller. He’s half convinced Chikage’s a spy anyway, so he wouldn’t be surprised if he killed him and disposed of the body later. 

Itaru  _is_ surprised, however, when Chikage comes up to him and... grabs his phone? Wait, was he gonna break the phone? That wouldn’t be the worst punishment, he remembers all of his account’s passwords anyways, and he has most work stuff backed up...

“ Ah~ I didn’t expect to be summoned so suddenly. “

Itaru blinks. That sounded like... Chikage. But Chikage wasn’t speaking to him, and instead was looking down at him with his stupid smirk. 

“ Is it... hot in here, or is that just m-me? Ah, you can’t expect me to say that, summoner! “ 

There was no way. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening. This was a dream. A really bad, weird, horny dream. There’s no fucking way they got Chikage to voice Gawain- 

“ G-Grr, argh! Ahhh! I-I apologize, the enemy got the best of me... “

That was  _not_ what fighting noises sounded like. Chikage was _definitely_ fucking with him and was fully aware of his... predicament. There’s no way he’d agree to voice...  _those_ otherwise. 

“ A-Ah! Aaaaaaah- “

“ Gee, senpai! I got it! You don’t have to keep playing anymore. “

“ Oh? You haven’t heard the best ones yet. Those discussion boards you frequent had things a lot worse than a few groans, I’m surprised you’re this... affected by this little fanservice. “

“ I-I... I- fuck. “ He’s refuses to  cry over this, but his voice is definitely shaking now. It’s not like he didn’t expect for his feelings to be found out. He just didn’t expect for Chikage to find out and mock him  _this_ badly. “ Y-You could have just said something, I got it, I’m pathetic, nice way to show it. “

Maybe he can move troupes. Maybe he can convince Banri to let him stay in the autumn troupe, because clearly Chikage wouldn’t want to work with him after this. He’s got noodles for arms, but he’s done a few sword-fights, so he can handle a few action scenes. He doesn’t want to quit though, and hopes that the  _least_ Chikage can do is spare him of that fate. 

“ Chigasaki... I wasn’t trying to mock you. “ 

He looks up, and Chikage looks genuinely upset. Shit, he didn’t jump to conclusions, did he? Why else would Chikage go through the trouble of essentially making Itaru’s weird fantasies be voiced? 

“ In hindsight, I should have seen this outcome. I seem to forget you have a tendency to accept the worst scenarios. “

“ ...If you didn’t intend to mock me. Then what was this? You know about the forums, which, I mean, great, it also probably means you saw ‘ chikage utsuki shirtless ‘ in my search history. “

“ I haven’t searched your history, but it is a very amusing search indeed. “

Fuck, he‘s just digging his own grave at this point. “ ...Moving on. With all of that combined, you probably know about my, uh...  _situation_ , in regards to you. “ 

“ Situation? You mean your feelings as well your inability to distinguish a role I played from myself? “ 

" Oh, apologies for not wanting to say I have a thing for you when the guy I’ve been crushing on is mocking me and my feelings without me even voicing them. “

“ Hm. Apology accepted, your feelings are returned. “ 

“ Grea- wait, what?! “

There’s no way he heard that correctly, right? _Chikage? Unromantic senpai Chikage?  Cheat character and has probably killed a man Chikage_ _?_ Returning his feelings? He didn’t even know Chikage could have those in the first fucking place, let alone for  _him._

“ It seems as though my message is unclear, very well. “ Chikage says, and starts itching closer, and shit- Itaru’s now pressed up against the wall like some shitty mc, and Chikage’s getting closer and what he thinks is happening is  definitely not happening right now, right?  There’s no way Chikage’s gonna kiss him, right? 

Well, in hindsight, there are shittier first kisses to have than one after an argument over a gatcha game. Itaru’s not really complaining. For all of his unromantic tendencies, Chikage sure knows how to kiss. That’s one extra point for the whole spy theory, he  _really_ doubts Chikage just goes around making out with people. 

They eventually separate, and Itaru still has trouble comprehending the situation. He just made out with his... coworker? roommate? boyfriend? 

Well, his... Chikage, he supposes, unromantic and a cheat as he might be.

“ Oh, and for clarity, I was approached way before I knew of your obsession with the card. I asked for them to give you the Gawain as my payment, so the press will die down after my interview about how I’n actually a ‘ huge Taruchi fan who wanted to support him ‘ goes up, so your account won’t be terminated. “

“ Senpai... “

“ Hm? “

“ You... could not have picked a worse strategy to win me over. You made me considering changing the troupe, you know. “

A bemused chuckle leaves Chikage. “ Oh? And what troupe would you move to? I’m rather curious. “

“ I could always aim for Autumn, you know. Action packed scenes seem like a nice change of pace. “

“ Well, I think that you don’t need to change troupes in order to get some ‘ action ‘. “ Chikage moves to sit on Itaru’s bed, casually, as if he didn’t drop the worst pick up line in existence. “ ...We don’t have all day, Chigasaki. “

Well... there are probably worse pick up lines to lead to your first time, right?

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this while sleep deprived and because of a shitpost idea I had, so there’s that. I hate the ending and cried 3 times while editing because of AO3 formatting, so apologies if there are any mistakes. Talk to me on twt @Ratmitri if y’all want to.


End file.
